I needed to bend some sheet metal (14 guage) but can not afford a conventional metal break. So I built one. My door going out of my shop is about 5 feet wide so I drilled to holes in the concrete, hammered in some expaning 1 inch bolts. I then took some 3 in angle iron, welded 4 heavy duty door hinges one them, took another pieve of 3 inch angle and laid it on top, drill two 1 1/4 inch hole in them so they would fit over the bolts in the concrete. took my impact wrench and tightened the down good after I put the metal I needed to been between them. Here is the results of the test bend on a piece of scrap metal.
I used a chain hoist mounted to the roof of my shop to help me bend the metal. This is a picture of the brake bending the first of four 45 degree angles for the top of my cooker. I used two floor joist jacks to give me more support in keeping the angle iron as flat as possible during the bend.
The whole project for the metal brake was under $200.00m much cheapter than purchasing one commercially. This did not count the chan hoist as I had it earleir and use it for other things too.
I used a chain hoist mounted to the roof of my shop to help me bend the metal. This is a picture of the brake bending the first of four 45 degree angles for the top of my cooker. I used two floor joist jacks to give me more support in keeping the angle iron as flat as possible during the bend.
The whole project for the metal brake was under $200.00m much cheapter than purchasing one commercially. This did not count the chan hoist as I had it earleir and use it for other things too.
